Masterful Younis 218 puts England on the ropes

Younis Khan - 218

LONDON: At the age of 38, and in the final Test of a tour in which
most sage judges feared that his imperious talents were beginning to
fade, Younis Khan rolled back the years in stunning fashion on the third
afternoon at the Kia Oval, crushing England's hopes of a slender
first-innings deficit with a brilliant 218.

By tea, at the approximate halfway mark of the fourth and final Test,
Younis's efforts had carried Pakistan to a formidable lead of 214, a
remarkable improvement of their overnight advantage of 12, and testament
to how expertly he had coaxed the best out of a previously brittle
Pakistan tail.

Until James Anderson finally crowbarred an lbw decision from Marais
Erasmus with ten minutes of the session remaining, England had looked
bereft of ideas on a pitch that still appears to be offering more life
than the scoreline would suggest.

Having played second fiddle to a typically pugnacious cameo of 44
from 78 balls from Sarfraz Ahmed in the morning session, Younis took
command of both the scoring and the strike as the afternoon wore on,
adding 37 in 11.3 overs with Wahab Riaz, who made 4 from 32 balls, then
97 in 20.3 with the steadfast Mohammad Amir, who waited 23 balls to get
off the mark as he helped his senior partner power through to his sixth
double-hundred, before joining the celebrations three balls later by
lashing Moeen Ali over deep midwicket for six.

When Pakistan's last man, Sohail Khan, holed out to mid-on on the
stroke of tea, Amir was the last man standing, unbeaten on a career-best
39 not out from 70 balls, his initial caution having given way to a
florid range of strokes that ramped England's frustrations up to boiling
point.